60 Minutes March 5

As New South Wales’ top cop, Andrew Scipione has not just been the person in charge of 21,000 police officers and staff, he has also carried ultimate responsibility for the safety of the state’s seven and a half million citizens. He holds the largest policing job in Australia and one of the biggest in the world. Now Commissioner Scipione is about to hand in his badge, and even though he has spent 10 years as the boss and 37 years in total as a policeman, he knows his career may well be judged on just 17 hours, when 18 people were held hostage in the Lindt Café siege. But Andrew Scipione doesn’t shy away from that. He accepts, as he always has, that the buck stops with him.

Reporter:Liz Hayes

Producer: Nick Greenaway

SAVING OUR SONS

Everyone who met 25-year-old Jake Fitzsimmons thought he was a great bloke. He was a local footy hero, had a decent job and plenty of friends. But Jake was keeping a heartbreaking secret from his mates, and one day late last year the depression he suffered became too much to bear, and he took his own life. Suicide by young men is rarely talked about so we have yet to properly comprehend its tragic scale. This week the CEO of Lifeline said Australia was in the middle of a “national suicide emergency” and that deaths were at a ten-year high. On average six men take their own lives every day, and for the sake of all the Jake Fitzsimmons in this country, we must do more to help and support those who are vulnerable.

Reporter:Peter Stefanovic

Producers: Sean Power, Jo Townsend

CRAVING MORE

k.d. lang is as famous for her individual style as she is for remarkable voice; the suited, androgynous performer with the signature, sultry sound. And as a vegetarian lesbian from Canadian cattle country, k.d. is also one of the most unlikely artists to make it in the mainstream music business. For her entire career she has tested boundaries, starting as a punk country singer before crossing over and taking on the world of pop. With multiple hit songs including the unforgettable Constant Craving, this self-deprecating star is also still amazed by her own success, even as she prepares for a much anticipated tour to Australia.